Plans to rename Pikachu spark protests in Hong Kong

Protesters marched on the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong this week to demand that Nintendo scrap plans to use only Mandarin Chinese names for the characters in its forthcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon games.

Previous Pokemon titles have used various translations to reflect local language differences in different parts of the Chinese-speaking world. The decision to stick solely with Mandarin effectively means that a number of well-loved characters are getting renamed.

In Hong Kong Pikachu was originally translated as Bei-kaa-chyu. Under the new system he becomes Pikaqiu.

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In March this year more than 6,000 people signed a petition asking Nintendo to revert to its original system.

"We are aware of the reasons behind Nintendo's translation, presumably to make it easier for purposes such as publicity, but the move ignores a lot of players. We hope the Hong Kong market can be taken seriously and treated sincerely."

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The demonstration on Monday was organised by Lonely Media and activist group Civic Passion. Protestors sang the Cantonese Pokémon theme song as they waved banners saying “No Pei-kaa-jau, give me back Bei-kaa-chyu,”

Protestor Sing Leung told reporters: "Pikachu has been in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. It is not simply a game or comic book, it is the collective memory of a generation."

"It was a good decision for them to launch a Chinese version of the game, but it has not respected the culture and language of specific places."